Planking craze in Australia draws warning after fatal plunge

Australia’s prime minister today urged the nation to cool off its hottest fad — planking — in the wake of a fatal plunge from a seventh-story balcony.

Planking is the act of lying facedown as stiff as a plank, toes pointed down and hands at the sides, in as unusual a place as possible and posting a photo of it on a social website. Plankers’ venues have included fire hydrants, toilets, train tracks and even a police car (which got the planker arrested). Both Australia and Great Britain take credit for originating it, with the BBC saying it started as “the lying-down game” in Somerset in 2000.

It turned tragic on Sunday, however, when a 20-year-old man planking on a seventh-story balcony in Brisbane plunged to his death.

According to The Guardian, Prime Minister Julia Gillard urged plankers to consider the safety implications. “There’s a difference between a harmless bit of fun done somewhere that’s really safe and taking a risk with your life,” she said.